


Divide and Conquer; Unite and Heal

by Melethril



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Rurouni Kenshin, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Assassins, Battousai - Freeform, Fluff and Angst, Forgiveness, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No matter how good the Winter Soldier was there are more dangerous people out there, Or at least the beginning of something, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Weird One-shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 06:11:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14466693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melethril/pseuds/Melethril
Summary: To be the son of a weapon’s manufacturer was not always safe. Thankfully, he had Jarvis... And Jarvis knew people.





	Divide and Conquer; Unite and Heal

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t expect any reviews for this. 
> 
> I simply watched an episode with my most favorite character of all times (yes, there is a character I love even more than the ones I usually write about) and wanted him included in the MCU. There is some lingering bitterness over Civil War; I haven’t seen Infinity Wars yet, but I bet it’s going to break my heart... Don’t spoil me, but tell me if – as a Tony Stark defender – I will hate or love this movie.  
> In this story, Thanos won’t ease the path to the ex-Avengers coming back together. If anything about my few Black Panther comments seem wrong, I apologize, it’s on my list of movies to see but I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.

**Divide and Conquer; Unite and Heal**

 

Tonight, they had an Avengers fundraising campaign slash “We love each other very much and the past is forgiven and forgotten” PR spiel and Tony, who was usually a pro at schmoozing could barely keep up his media smile. The last months had been exhausting. It did not help that the others were not here.

He understood why Thor was not here. He was busy helping the remaining fraction of Asgard society settle down in a patch of land generously lent by the Norwegians. Theoretically, Loki had the same excuse, but also that he would not help raising funds and was more likely to cause a bout of panic.

He also understood Bruce, who did not like going to these things because he feared losing his temper, and because he had offered his services in helping the Asgardian people whom he had bonded to on their journey to Earth.

Tony also understood that former assassins and spies did not feel comfortable in these things because of being used to work in the shadows (though Natasha was excellent at schmoozing). His feelings about Barnes were split; logically, he knew the man had not murderered his mother out of his free will, and he sympathized with the hell he had gone through, but Tony could still hardly bear to stay in the same room with him over a prolonged period of time. Still, strangely enough, he had a better relationship with him than with Wilson and Barton, the latter of whom was so unable to keep his opinions about Tony down, he was no longer allowed to appear with him in an official capacity. Wilson felt like Tony had betrayed him personally when he promised to follow Steve to Siberia as a friend and, while being a lot more professional with him than Barton, preferred not being in the same room with him. Yet, Wilson was here tonight because Rhodey asked him to. They were both in their dress uniform, looking absolutely gorgeous. Their sheer presence would increase their success tonight.

Of course, it would be helpful if Captain America himself made an appearance but he had no interest in being a ‘Dancing Monkey’ ever again. Wanda did not even bother with an actual response, had simply raised her eyebrows and left the room. So had Natasha.

The Aristocats, Badass Kitty and her lionesses were taking care of their own country and did not come to New York for this kind of thing. However, both Simba and Shuri (that Brilliant Furball of Awesomness still needed a proper nickname that encompassed her very being) had sent a substantial (mindblowing) donation that more than excused their absence. Peter was not allowed to go near these places, the same was the case for Vision; there was no way Tony left his ki… these two here unsupervised. Harry Potter had the sanctums to take care of and What’s-his-name had his kid for the weekend.

Ultimately, only Tony, Wilson and Rhodey showed up; of course, the lack of participation was noticed.

_“Where are the rest of the Avengers, Mr Stark?”_

_“Is everything alright between you? Will their be another war between you?”_

_“What are your thoughts on the current Accords? What does Captain America think?”_

_“Mr Stark, why were you not with Captain America, Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch and Agent Romanoff in the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital cheering up our most vulnerable citizens?”_

Come again?

He had to have said it aloud because the journalist clarified mentioning that up until half an hour ago, Steve and the others had apparently taken PR into their own hands and went to the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital making selfies with patients without telling Tony about it. Apparently, the whole thing had gone viral, but Tony had been unaware because he had left his phone and thereby FRIDAY in his room as PR had made it very clear to him that he would be watched and if there was even a moment of him glancing at his phone instead of smiling and talking to people, there would be photographic evidence of his _distraction_ and there would be hell to pay.

Being a genius, he quickly spun a story of how they had split up to make the best of their manpower and that he would certainly donate to another hospital, possibly even visit some patient if the hospital was in favor of that.

A commotion near the entrance had him turn around.

_For despising the attention so much, they sure know how to make an entrance._

They looked formidable and Tony felt so tired. He hoped everybody was distracted because he just knew he looked like death warmed over. A slightly taller body bumped him gently in the shoulder (he still needed to get used to once again being shorter than his best friend).

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” Tony whispered. He was not and Rhodey knew that, but he did not say anything.

For the sake of duty.

Yet another sacrifice Tony had demanded of his brother in all but blood.

The only person who actually stuck to the shadows was Barnes. The others stood there in all their glory. Wilson came up and hugged Steve before he stepped to his left. The group then moved towards Tony who desperately tried to muster a smile. Before they were face to face, a shadow stepped in between the groups. The shadow was a redhaired, short, thin figure in a burgundy kimono that Tony would recognize anywhere even though his back was turned to him and he had not seen it in about thirty-five years.

“Kenshin?”

Things happened really fast. Barnes was suddenly in front of Steve and Natasha had taken two steps back.

“It has been a long time, _Fuyu-san_ … Romanova- _dono_ ,” the man’s soft voice was a blessing and Tony felt some of his exhaustion drain away like the remnants of a bad dream. This was Kenshin. He was _safe_. He had protected him so fiercely all these years ago, less out of being paid for it by Howard but because Jarvis had asked him to. The steel subtly permeating the man’s tone did not disperse Tony’s sense of calm; the man had never threatened him and he would not do it now. “It is good to see some familiar faces,” he contiuned before he turned his back on them with a polite bow before switching to Japanese as he spoke to Tony.

“Anthony- _kun_ , _this one hopes we could talk. Apologies for approaching you in such a public place, but this one did not appreciate how your ki dimmed upon your friends’ entry.”_ That last part was said so quietly and in an ancient accent that no translator could hope interpret no matter if there was a microphone nearby. From what he remembered, the hope of catching Kenshin with a microphone was nill to zero. He had tried.

Elegantly, Rhodey managed to disperse the crowed that started to form announcing that some Avengers business had come up that they needed to take care of. Tony led them to the penthouse he had rented (and potentially debugged with the help of an EMP and then cleaned up by FRIDAY. He noticed that Kenshin very carefully placed himself between Tony and the others except for Rhodey who walked to Kenshin’s left.

Once inside the penthouse, Tony hugged Kenshin who gently hugged him back.

“ _You haven’t aged a day!”_ exclaimed Tony in Japanese; giddy to hear more about how his childhood hero had fared in recent years.

“ _This one cannot apologize enough for not seeing you in all these years,_ ” Kenshin replied solemnly. Tony swallowed hard; people left. It was what they did. They only returned when they needed something (with only few exceptions; namely Rhodey, Pepper and Happy). He wondered what Kenshin’s story was.

_“Why did you leave?”_

_“Yahiko died. His daughter called.”_

Oh. That was a pretty good reason to leave. The pain in Kenshin’s face was familiar; a wound that never truly healed.

_“What happened?”_

_“Some people feared the Battousai and did not hesitate to harm innocents in their quest to harm him.”_

The hairs on the back of Tony’s neck stood on end when his protector’s eyes assumed a distinctly familiar, amber tinge to them. Yet, he felt no fear; just sympathy. How many people had harmed his loved ones to get to him or because of him ( _Happy, Rhodey, JARVIS… Oh, JARVIS, I am so sorry!_ ).

_“Can I help?”_ asked Tony, replacing his crushing guilt with anger on behalf of Kenshin.

“ _I took care of it_.” That likely meant that the threat no longer existed. Kenshin Himura hated killing with a passion, but he was _not_ a pacifist; not anymore, yet he believed in diplomacy above all else and he went out of his way to support life, not death. Nevertheless, he was unmatched in the death business, surpassed only by its Merchant.

“Sorry, could you speak English, please?” sneered Barton who apparently did not recognize another assassins until he was well within killing range; very unlike his friend and colleague, Natasha Romanoff who cleared her throat. She looked terrified.

“Ah, Fury- _san_ learned his lesson and never had you come after me, _Hōkie-san_ ,” said Kenshin with a very dangerous smile. “You might want to talk to your friend.”

“Who are you?” asked Rogers, sounding very suspicious.

Tony decided to do the introduction before Battousai decided to fillet Captain America.

“This is Kenshin Himura, a good friend Edwin Jarvis, the Stark family butler,” he swallowed dryly to get rid off the bile that rose in his throat. “A couple of antiweapon activists ironically decided that threatening a seven-year-old son of a weapon manufacturer was the way to introduce world peace. Edwin asked Kenshin to protect me, which he did for over five years.” Three of which he had spent primarily in Japan. He had known Yahiko. Why had Kenshin not told him anything?

Kenshin had to have noticed his train of thought because he said in his native language that ‘ _this one’s actions were inexcusible’._ Even less honorable was the decision to not return after Jarvis’ death, and the death of his parents; not returning in the difficult years that came after. He had protected Yahiko’s children as he had promised, but in turn, had failed Tony in every possible way. He did not deserve his forgiveness, but he hoped that Tony found it within him to let him help once more. God, how he had always envied Kenshin’s ability to speak; and of course, he forgave him. There was no other option. That statement led to another hug and a personal introduction between Rhodey and Kenshin.

“That does not explain Natasha’s and Barnes’ reaction,” said Clint astutely.

To their surprise, Barnes snorted.

“You want to know who that is, Barton? This is _Hitokiri Battousai_ , one of the if not the most feared assassin to ever walk this planet. The Winter Soldier had the mission to kill him about fifty years ago. Needless to say, he failed. Why he decided to spare him, I don’t know.”

Tony’s ears roared. If Battousai had killed the Winter Soldier, so many (341, his cursed mind supplied as it rushed through HYDRA data) people would have lived, including his parents. He wanted to turn away but Kenshin’s tortured eyes held him in place. He had never seen these amber eyes look so full of sorrow.

“Because he would have been replaced by those willing to serve the serpent. He was merciless but he was not cruel; and there was good in him, that I was not willing to destroy.” Of course, Battousai would understand the concept of Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier better than anybody. Thinking of assassinated soldiers in freezing chambers, Tony shuddered to think what would have happened.

For some reason, Tony felt like he could breathe for the first time in Barnes’ presence. The former Winter Soldiers did not seem to agree.

“You should have killed him,” said Barnes coldly, turned around and left the room. Not surprisingly, Steve (and therefore the others) followed, leaving behind only Rhodey, Kenshin and Tony. The latter turned to the other two and asked dryly,“How about some sushi? There’s an awesome chef just a few blocks from here.”

For the first time in a long, long time, Tony heard Kenshin’s soft laughter… While things were not even close to being well or even acceptable, the heir of Stark Industries felt as if some burden had just been taken off his shoulders. Perhaps, he could find peace with Barnes and ultimately, himself; if there was one person capable of helping with that, it was this short, infinitely patient soul with a past as dark as Barnes’ and his.

**Author's Note:**

> For the few Rurouni Kenshin fans out there: you probably noticed that this is VERY AU. It was definitely inspired by Vathara's versions of Rurouni Kenshin's stories... Read her stories, they are altogether amazing.
> 
> Oh, and I am a huge fan of Winter's End by chernaya_aliska; I only drop hints of how it influences my way of writing Bucky, but it was not inspired by canon.


End file.
